'Rocket City Rednecks' Launches Reality TV into Final Frontier

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — If you like drinking beer, explosions, cussing
and shooting rockets, then boy, does the National Geographic
Channel have a show for you.

"Rocket City Rednecks," a new DIY science reality show, makes its
cable TV debut on the National Geographic Channel Wednesday night
(Sept. 28 at 9 p.m. EDT — check local listings), two days after
its world premiere here at the Davidson Center for Space
Exploration at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, before a
cold-one cracking, hooting and hollering crowd.

The show's coverall and camoflauge-clad cast may look and sound
like slack-jawed yokels, but there's nothing stereotypical about
them. The stars include those with Ph.D.s, an original NASA
machinist and a bona fide genius. [ Photos:
Behind the Scenes of "Rocket City Rednecks" ]

In the series premiere, the Rednecks' so-called "hillbilly
ingenuity," is on full throttle as they try to bomb-proof a truck
using beer cans and launch a moonshine-fueled rocket, all while
shouting their motto of "safety third."

More than just explosions

The show is more than an excuse to blow things up. In each of the
episodes, the Rednecks try to solve big problems in
military and space research by inventing new, cheap
technology.

"People at NASA are gung-ho about finding alternatives to rocket
fuel," said Travis Taylor, the show's ringleader, as he outlined
a moonshine distillation game plan. "Who knows, maybe one day
something as renewable and abundant as corn could get us to
another planet."

The show is filmed in Huntsville, where German rocket scientist
Werner von Braun helped launch the American space program. It was
here where the rockets that put a man on the moon were built,
earning Huntsville its nickname as the Rocket City. When von
Braun moved to Huntsville, he relied on the town's resourceful
farmers to invent the tools needed to build rockets.

"That's what the
Apollo-era rocket science was all about," Taylor said after
the premiere. "It was the Rocket City Rednecks that did that."

Taylor, an actual rocket scientist working on his second Ph.D. in
aerospace engineering, has been building rockets since age 6. His
father, Charles Taylor, or simply "Daddy" to the Rednecks, was
one of NASA's original machinists and built some of the United
States' first satellites, some of which are still in orbit.
[Related:
Meet the Ringleader of the 'Rocket City Rednecks' ]

Taylor's nephew and brother-in-law are also on the show. "Mama"
even makes a few appearances, mostly to yell at Daddy for
stealing the plumbing from her new bathroom to build a whiskey
still.

Launching rockets? BYOB

The only thing the Rednecks seem to enjoy more than explosions is
drinking beer. Travis Taylor even has his own music video, which
was shown after the premiere, aptly titled "Drinking Beer."

"Where will the cans come from?" one of the Rednecks asked when
they set out to bomb-proof a truck.

"Have you met Rog?" Taylor deadpanned, referring to his sidekick
Rog Jones, a trailer-dwelling maintenance man with a genius-level
IQ.

The crew even built a melon-headed crash-test dummy, named
Jugghead Jim. Jim had fruits, vegetables and eggs for internal
organs so the team could gauge how their beer-can armor would
absorb the blast. [ 9
Cyborg Enhancements Available Right Now ]

"We're not trying to save the truck," Taylor said. "Whoever's in
there driving or riding, we want to make sure they survive."

As one might expect from a show that has both "rocket" and
"rednecks" in the title, the episodes are full of trial-and-error
escapades and close calls. Taylor has a brush with disaster while
wiring explosives to his rocket.